Lgbtq gay

LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Rises to %

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup’s latest update on LGBTQ+ identification finds % of U.S. adults spotting as lesbian, gay, attracted to both genders, transgender or something other than heterosexual in This represents an increase of more than a percentage point versus the prior estimate, from Longer legal title, the figure has nearly doubled since and is up from % in , when Gallup first measured it.

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LGBTQ+ identification is increasing as younger generations of Americans enter adulthood and are much more likely than older generations to say they are something other than heterosexual. More than one in five Gen Z adults -- those born between and , who were between the ages of 18 and 27 in -- identify as Gay. Each older generation of adults, from millennials to the Silent Generation, has successively lower rates of identification, down to % among the oldest Americans, those born before

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LGBTQ+ identification rates among juvenile people have also increased, from an average % of Gen Z adults in through to an average of % over th

Glossary of Terms: LGBTQ

Definitions were drafted in collaboration with other U.S.-based LGBTQ group organizations and leaders. Spot acknowledgements section.

Additional terms and definitions about gender identity and gender utterance, transgender people, and nonbinary people are available in the Transgender Glossary. 

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*NOTE:  Ask people what terms they apply to describe their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression before assigning them a label. Outside of acronyms, these terms should only be capitalized when used at the beginning of a sentence.
 

LGBTQ
Acronym for womxn loving womxn, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer. The Q generally stands for queer when LGBTQ organizations, leaders, and media use the acronym. In settings offering help for youth, it can also stand for questioning. LGBT and LGBTQ+ are also used, with the + added in recognition of all non-straight, non-cisgender identities. (See Transgender Glossary ) Both are acceptable, as are other versions of thi

Adult LGBT Population in the United States

This report provides estimates of the number and percent of the U.S. senior population that identifies as LGBT, overall, as well as by age. Estimates of LGBT adults at the national, state, and regional levels are included. We rely on BRFSS data for these estimates. Pooling multiple years of data provides more stable estimates—particularly at the state level.

Combining BRFSS data, we estimate that % of U.S. adults identify as LGBT. Further, we estimate that there are almost million (13,,) LGBT adults in the U.S.

Regions and States

LGBT people reside in all regions of the U.S. (Table 2 and Figure 2). Consistent with the overall population in the United States,more LGBT adults live in the South than in any other region. More than half (%) of LGBT people in the U.S. reside in the Midwest (%) and South (%), including million in the Midwest and million in the South. About one-quarter (%) of LGBT adults reside in the West, approximately million people. Less than one in five (%) LGBT adults exist in the Northeast ( million).

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LGBTQ Rights

The ACLU has a lengthy history of defending the LGBTQ community. We brought our first LGBTQ rights case in Founded in , the Jon L. Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović LGBTQ & HIV Project brings more LGBTQ rights cases and lobbying initiatives than any other national organization does and has been counsel in seven of the nine LGBTQ rights cases that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided. With our reach into the courts and legislatures of every state, there is no other organization that can suit our record of making progress both in the courts of law and in the court of public opinion.

The ACLU’s current priorities are to end discrimination, harassment and violence toward gender nonconforming people, to close gaps in our federal and state civil rights laws, to prevent protections against discrimination from being undermined by a license to discriminate, and to protect LGBTQ people in and from the criminal legal system.

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For non-LGBTQ issues, please contact your local ACLU affiliate.

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